Fine Art

An unframed painting offered at a Norfolk auction was bid to 2000 times its high estimate when bidders detected in it the hand of an Italian Old Master.

Marks painting was also one of the highlights at auction where La Thangue sold at six figures

Among the lots catching bidders’ eyes in the last few months were a number of intriguing portraits that came up at sales in south-west England.

Nestled in 400 acres of land in Hampshire is Heckfield Place, a Georgian manor house masterfully restored and renovated into a luxury hotel.

A small portrait of a woman that was pitched at £100-150 drew a bidding battle that carried it over 10 times estimate.

'Frank Auerbach: The Sitters' at Piano Nobile includes over 40 paintings and drawings with around a third of the works for sale.

Over 220 items (and counting) are in the forthcoming Catalogue 119 – the latest offering from Covent Garden dealership Grosvenor Prints.

The British Art Fair is boosting its Contemporary profile for its first outing under Ramsay Fairs next month.

A previously unknown sketchbook of watercolours and drawings relating to the California Gold Rush took £16,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Chiswick Auctions.

Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) latest Old Master evening sale in London was the smallest in terms of the number of lots that anyone could remember at one of these flagship summer events.

Portland Gallery shows works by painter who studied under David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic

A portrait of a young man once thought to be a self-portrait by the Milanese artist Andrea Solario (1460-1524) attracted keen enquiries ahead of sale.

A pair of Contemporary mixed media works by Yorkshire artist Susan Brown were among the standout sales at the Cotswolds Decorative Antiques & Art Fair.

Among a number of Old Master portraits on offer in Cambridge is a depiction of a gentleman that has been consigned from a private collection in Suffolk.

Arguably the most eyecatching bidding battle at the latest London Old Master series was for a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.